Rubanverse: The Second Edition (An Info/Shitpost Book)

Tis An Answer | What About Jake?

InvisibleJackson

Trigger Warning: Sadness and character death

So, some of you may have noticed that Jake was not on the list of characters, or just didn't seem to be there in general. And for those of you who don't know, Jake is one of the main protagonists of my hopefully soon-continued Chaotic series. Remember when I made an animation for the second book I never wrote? That was like over a year ago Jesus- (but it's on my yt channel 'Hiya_It's_Sam' you can check it out if you'd like lmao)

Though, a bit about this man. He's a Shade, a being made entirely of the corrupted version of Chaos Energy (which by the way, is still called that because Chaos took credit for it, given his rise to power and the apparent disappearance of the other Primordials). He was part of the group that Chaos dumped human emotions on so they could blend in with the humans, and report back with information on if the humans were redeemable or not. Lance was also part of that group, but on the side of their gathering info job, they created a cafe, which they so expertly named Chaotic Neutral Cafe. That cafe still stands in the second edition, and Lance still works there.

But now, onto the real answer to the question you all are here for: Where is Jake?

Well, to put it simply...

He's dead.

This probably won't tie into the Chaotic series, as in it won't be shown there. The Chaotic series by the way is canon to the Rubanverse, so. But anywho, yeah. After the adventure they'll have in that series, which I really wanna continue now, Lance and Jake get discovered by Chaos again. Their hiding is over, and somehow, Chaos finally discovered where they were.

"Come on!" Lance's feet hit the ground, pushing him forward with each step. Running behind him, his wrist tight in Lance's grasp, was Jake, who was breathing heavily.

"Lance-"

"Come on, come on, we just have to get to the edge of the forest!" Lance's gaze fixated to the distant trees, but sadly no end to them was in sight. "Then we'll be safe, he won't-"

"LANCE!"

Lance stopped as Jake yanked his arm back. Lance spun around, his eyes widening. "What are you doing?! He'll catch us if we don't go now!"

"Lance..." Jake leaned against a tree, holding his abdomen. Lance froze as he saw glowing white blood seeping from a large gash across his friend's abdomen. Lance rushed over.

"When did..." Lance stared at the wound with fearful eyes, then his eyes widened as the memory of Chaos slicing at Jake hit him with a force that made his chest tight. He'd been getting everyone out of the cafe, while Jake insisted he be the one to take on Chaos. Lance grit his teeth.

"Hey, you're gonna be okay. Why didn't you say anything before?!" Lance demanded. He moved his hand towards Jake's wound, before stilled as Jake gripped his wrist.

"Because you need to get somewhere he can't find you." Jake grimaced as more blood seeped from his wound, staining his skin. Jake looked up, meeting Lance's eyes. "You need to get out of here, Lance."

Lance stared at him for a few moments, before he shook his head. "What?! No, I'm not leaving you! Are you insane? Did you hit your head too?!"

Jake chuckled weakly and shook his head. "No, but if we both go Shade, he could use us against one another. He could hurt either one of us even more. I'm not going to let him do that. Besides, if we heal me he'll sense us even faster."

No, no no, this was going all wrong! Why was Jake suddenly so obsessed with dying?! Him staying behind, weakened and wounded no less, would only lead to one thing, one thing Lance couldn't have happening. Lance looked at Jake, his expression hardening.

"I'm not leaving you. I won't let him control me, I'm not going to let him use me against you, now come on." Lance started to haul his friend up, before Jake grabbed his shoulder and locked eyes with him again. Lance hated it when he did that; it felt like he was trapping him, locking him in the gravity of the situation. Restricting him from running and ignoring all of it, passing it off as some nightmare that just wouldn't end.

"Lance, I'm not worried about him taking you over. I'm worried about him using me against you," Jake said softly. "I know you wouldn't be able to kill me. You can kill humans, Nexarians, and even Voids, but you could never do that to me, controlled or not. I know you wouldn't be able to... and I think you know that too."

Lance stared at him, his eyes starting to burn and his vision starting to blur. Lance reached up and wiped at his eyes, removing his hand to see water on his palm. He didn't know why his eyes were leaking, all he knew is he wanted it to stop, he wanted Jake to come with him and he wanted them both to be okay.

"Jake, w-we're not heroes. We can leave, y-you just have to come with me. We can get you fixed, we..."

Jake cracked a smile. "Silver would be mad if they heard you say that..." Jake grimaced, but a moment later his smile somehow returned. "Besides, who'll run the cafe if we both end up dead? You'll need to be here if Silver and the others ever come back, too; they might want to see a friendly face." Jake glanced up at him, clutching his wound tighter, before he sighed softly and gently pushed Lance back a step.

"Go."

"I-I- but-" Lance's body started shaking, and he stared at his friend helplessly. Just one snap and he'd be okay. One snap and they'd both be out of there.

But with one snap, and they'd both be dead.

Lance swallowed back a sob that built in his chest, then hugged his friend tightly. He felt Jake wrap an arm around his back, returning the gesture. Lance wished he could stay like that forever. Just him and his best friend, making it on their own after their creator left them for wastes of time.

But he supposed no one could ever have it that easy, even beings made to kill and feed off of suffering, that had somehow learned to care and love despite the teachings drilled into their minds.

The two pulled from the hug, and Jake's expression turned determined as he placed a hand on Lance's shoulder.

"If Chaos ever gets close to reaching his goal... stab him for me, okay?"

Lance took a deep breath, before giving a single nod. He stepped back, hot tears streaming down his face. Jake leaned against the tree, sighing softly. His eyes glowed a bright white, before his human appearance faded away, replaced with a figure made of shadow speckled with stars. Lance almost instantly felt a chill sweep through the forest, and that's when he turned and ran.

Soooooo

Yeah, RIP Jake. Now I really wanna continue the Chaotic series... I had such big plans for that...

I might, if I uh, remember.

Well, see you later, peeps! It's been wonderful trading with you all. Sam out!